This invention relates to veterinary protective devices for animals such as cats or dogs, and has particular reference to veterinary restraint collars to be placed around an animal's neck in order to restrict access of the animal's mouth to the remainder of its body, or to restrict scratching or pawing at the head.
Protective devices for these general purposes have been known and used for many years, most frequently when an animal has a wound or an infected or otherwise sensitive area on its body, or has had surgery in an area that requires protection from biting, chewing or licking.
Typically, such a protective device is composed of relatively hard plastic or other relatively rigid material that is shaped into a truncated cone, with a center hole at the smaller end for fitting snugly around the neck of the animal and with a flaring larger end that extends forwardly alongside the animal's head and substantially surrounds its mouth. These have been referred to as "Elizabethan" collars because of their appearance, and are generally very uncomfortable for the animal to wear.
Various expedients have been used for tightening such a collar around the animal's neck and holding it in place against the animal's predictable efforts to disengage itself from the collar. Examples of these are a hook-and-loop closure on a sheet of resiliently flexible plastic that is wrapped around the animal's neck and clamped in place, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,764; a similarly shaped semi-rigid shield of plastic sheet material that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,057, in which the ends are overlapped and stapled or riveted together; and a somewhat similar collar of rubber, elastomer or flexible plastic sheet material that is formed into a frustro-conical shape with overlapping ends that are laced or riveted together, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,554.
In each of these patented devices, the disclosure makes it clear that sheets must be flexible enough to be bent around the animal's neck, but should be sufficiently rigid to be shape-retaining in a forwardly extending frustro-conical shape. Little is said about the comfort of the animal, although transparent material is used in the '764 patent to reduce the anxiety of the animal, and an inner "non-chafing" ring is applied to the semi-rigid material of the '057 patent.
Other efforts to provide an effective and comfortable restraint device are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,530 where a relatively rigid plate with a center hole is positioned over the head and laced to the collar of the animal; and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,814 where a doughnut-like, solid, resilient foam ring encircles the animal's neck and has a gap at one end that is closed by a drawstring device. These devices appear to be efforts to make the restraint more comfortable for the animals that must wear them, but are quite cumbersome when in place, and also are relatively complex in construction and installation.
The most important disadvantage of the veterinary restraint collars that are presently available is the discomfort and anxiety that they produce in the afflicted animal. In particular, the stiff plastic "Elizabethan" collars can be tremendously annoying, and even frightening, for a pet. The objective of this invention is to alleviate these disadvantages.